Morsander
by AAThanatos
Summary: Nico, Will, Jason and Percy find themselves in a time loop of a dead city, can they break the curse before the loop ends, will they survive? We shall see! (M/m romance/ghost story/ eventual smut in few chapters and will trigger warn if needed) don't like don't read don't hate.


Did you know that when something tragic happens it leaves an imprint? Energy never dies and it can photocopy itself on the world. Sometimes they happen in loops, images, and ectoplasmic catastrophe. As the ghost king this is something I am familiar with, but only in theory. These phenomena happen with ghosts, haunted houses, and even... haunted cities. This is a story about just that. A city that was so cursed that it left an imprint of time on a loop. A city that shows up once a year and in a different place than before. A horrific child of magic and dimensional science that baffles even those of us that know all the stories are true, but this was just a story until we lived it. So let's start at the beginning so you can see for yourself.

"This is the stupidest quest ever!" I squealed as Jason threw my ass into a freezing lake. Sub zero water soaked into my clothes causing my balls to escape back to the cavity from whence they came. Fuck the water is cold!

"Buddy, we have to get clean after that last attack or else you are going to be cleaning ichor out of your ass for weeks. There are not enough baby wipes in the world for that. Plus Percy can heat the water up." Jason said while stripping his shirt and jeans off, leaving them on the side of the bank. Sure he gets to strip, I now have lake water in my boots, my pockets, other places... crevices!

"Honestly Jason we could have just rented a room, Chiron gave us enough cash."

"Will! Stop with your logic!" Percy yelled while heating the water around us.

It wasn't like it was a real quest, there were four of us. We all know quests use three. This was just a standard demigod extraction, but lucky us the gods we were dealing with only took the target back to camp and not us. Explaining to us that heading back on our own was a good growth of character. Fuck character. We already lost the car we stole, we still had the cash but the nearest hotel was twenty miles away and I was too tired to shadow us there. Honestly I didn't mind washing with my clothes on, stripping in front of my old crush and my current crush were not high on my must do list. I was just happy my best bud was here to run interference. Jason made a great buffer.

"I'm done, I'm going to set up the pup tents in the clearing. Jason, why don't you set up the noise traps, and Percy I'm going to need you to fill up some fresh water in the canteens." Always so bossy, Will was lucky he was cute.

"What about me?!"

"You are on firewood. I'll cook us up something once we get it going and I have to check you over again to make sure you don't fade on us. I'll be just over those trees if you need me." Running off he grabbed his clothes and disappeared through the copse.

Firewood, what did he think I was packing here? I'm not built like Jason and Percy, I can't haul logs! Whatever, fucking stupid perfect Will.

"Ohh I see that face! First firewood then murder Nico. If you are going to kill him we might as well be warm."

"Fuck off Percy." I quirked a half smile only putting a little venom in my tone.

"I'm sure Will could find other ways to warm you up."

"That goes double for you Jason!"

Seriously... fuck these guys.

After we were all fed I was subjected to a strange look over from the boy I both wanted to strangle and kiss at the same time. Will was beautiful, he was also the most annoying smart ass this side of the East coast. Which only made him more attractive, so I do what I usually do when I have a crush, I push him away while simultaneously helping him in every way I can. I wanted him to ask me out, mainly because I'm to much of a coward to do it myself. Then the idea of him asking me out terrifies me. I feel like I would say no just because I was to scared to say yes. Luckily I don't really have to worry about that, it's been 5 months since the war and he hasn't done anything more than try to be friends. That was a hard enough hurdle to get over, just letting someone be nice and not ripping their face off for it.

Jason and I were setting our sleeping bags out when I felt a strange shutter down my spine and my stomach started to hurt.

"I'm gonna get some air, I'll be right back."

"Yeah dude, no worries I'll get your stuff out." Jason nodded at me.

The cool air on my face and the heat from the dying fire was a strange contrast that helped the lurch in my stomach. Ghosts were near by, and not friendly ones. I gave the perimeter a quick look around before I took a peek across the lake. A strange mist started to creep up from the water. It was like smoke rolling in with the way it traveled so quickly. Each roll defined and way to animated to be a natural phenomenon.

"Guys! Guys! We gotta go!" I yelled as I ran back to the tents.

Everyone scrambled out holding their weapons, even Will whom we equipped with a staff for the journey. Though he didn't hold it steady while trying to put all our supply bags over his shoulders. Out of all of us he was the tallest and the strongest, and the weakest fighter.

"Nico, what is that!?"

"I don't know Percy, I'm thinking it's some weird mist that's going to do really bad shit to us!" I yelled while we tried to navigate quickly from our campsite. Will tripped over one of the sound wires we strung up and Jason pulled him to his feet as we found a clear path and tried to run. I heard wolves which didn't makes sense for the area we were currently in, bears sure, not wolves.

The mist was gaining on us when Percy came to a dead stop.

"We gotta just face it guys, we can't out run it. Whatever it is we just gotta fight."

"Percy that shit could eat us alive for all we know , have you never seen the hunger games?! I don't have nearly enough burn cream for that. Nico can you shadow us out?"

"Can't, I'll fade. Jason can you fly us up?"

"Can't, to many of you."

"Percy, water? Can't you control it, it's mist isn't mist a type of water?"

"Yeah been trying that, that's not made of any water I know of. That's why we should just stay here and figure out what it is, it's obviously after us."

"No shit Sherlock!" Will screeched with a sheen of sweat starting to form from his nerves.

"Fuck you Will. Just..."

We were to late, I felt the icy chill that went down my spine settle over my skin as the mist enveloped our bodies and the edges of my vision went dark and splotchy. My knees gave way and I felt my sword slip as I hit the ground and passed out.

We awoke to snarls of wolves all around us. I didn't have time to shake the groggy feeling of passing out so I slowly got to my feet.

"Guys? You there?" I whispered. I heard a hush of yes from all around me. Whatever was happening we all were atleast alive, but it sounded like I wasn't the only one that hit the ground. Whatever these wolves were they weren't normal ones, their eyes glowed red and it seemed like they weren't moving. I raised my blade when a thick hand grabbed my arm and stayed my hand.

"Don't attack them, if you attack them they will attack you. They just want ya to go forward. You enter the town or they tear you to pieces. Just walk forward slowly." A tall large man with horns growing from his forehead spoke. His deep rumble of a voice held a slight bit of fear in it.

"Who are you?"

"I'll explain after you get through the mist and the wolves. We don't have time we have to move."

"Do what he says!" Whisper yelled a girl on the other side of Jason, she was short but strong. Short black hair with face paint of a skull. Both of them looked like they were dressed for a renaissance fair only the weapons they held were very real. More people started showing up around us, some dressed like them, some dressed in modern clothes like us. One of the guys panicked and started kicking at the wolf.

"Run!" Yelled the large horned dude, so we obliged.

The thing about running for your life is that it never gets old no matter how often you do it. Adrenaline spikes inside you and things become sharp and clear as you make your way around the now snarling snapping enemy. I saw Percy take down two wolves with riptide, Jason skewered one with his spear. Will was dodging then left and right stepping on them as he jumped and I beheaded one about to grab his ankle. The blood was weird, like blue ichor spilling to the ground slicking the dead grass. The branches are cutting up my face as we ran and I feel the earth give way as I slide down underground and land hard on a stone floor, everyone else following down after me in messy pile. There wouldn't have been any light in the room except.. Wills freckles glow... and even in this shit storm it's adorable.

"What the fuck was that!? What's going on? Who are these people?" Give it to Percy to announce the obvious questions on everyone's mind.

"I'm Orion, this is Othgar and thats Keldren. We saw you enter the mist so we came to warn you about the wolves. The others didn't listen and that's why they are dead. This isn't the only chamber, I bet there is atleast fifteen of you this time."

"This time? You've done this before? Where the fuck are we?!" Jason sounded panicked, something tells me the inclosed space isn't helping his nerves, children of the sky don't like to be inclosed. Neither do I for that matter but when you spend days dying in a bronze jar it does things to you.

Othgar was big dude with horns, Orion was scary chick with face paint, now Keldren was this whole other level of scary. This guy had white fucking eyes where the color should be and tattoos under his eyes. Four long lines coming straight down under each eye like he was crying black in formation. Did we fall into a mythomagic game... wait never mind we already fucking live that day to day this shouldn't be surprising as it is.

"You wandered off the path at the wrong time my friends. If you get to the other side and Enter the city I'll explain more, until then we need to find the door."

The door, ok I can do that. I started skirting the walls looking for a weak spot. Hazel and I had been working together and I really wish she was here right now, better yet maybe not I don't want her in this mess. I started touching the damp stones until I found a patch that had an outline that didn't seem covered in grime. I placed my hand to feel and found there was a tunnel on the other side.

"Right here guys. The tunnel is behind this wall."

"How did he do that?" Orion whispered to the others.

"We all have our talents ma'am." Will drawled was he helped me push at the stones. I felt them start to merge and move aside until we got a full view of the creepiest tunnel I've seen since the house of Hades.

"I'll lead, Othgar take up the rear." Said Keldren as we lined in formation.

"I might be wrong but I think tattoo face can see in the dark."

"Not now Percy."

I held my Stygian Iron sword at the ready as we made way down the tunnel.

"Be ready for anything, I have a feeling it's going to be especially bad this year. " we heard from the back.

"This happens annually?" Jason squeaked.

"Every year around the same time in October. Like Othgar said we will tell you more if you make it out into the city."

"What city!?"

"The city of Morsander." Grumbled Othgar from behind us.

As we trekked along bits a pieces started putting themselves together. It was an old legend in the underworld library, I read through a lot of them in my time with my dad. Hades wanted me to be up to date on anything regarding his realm and this was part of it. It was filed under Ghost towns. This city was on a loop, something so bad happened to this place that it's memory was seared into the fabric of time and space. It moves, it comes alive for a few nights and then disappears as if it never happened. I was fuzzy on the details but from what I can remember the king made a deal with an immortal being to help him defeat an enemy and that deal destroyed not only his life, but everyone's. It was slow and deadly like a cancer. Spreading to touch everyone he ruled over. Something about Strigoi, the oldest form of vampire creatures. Not usually like the ones you hear about now, they had been non existent for about 1000 years, when anything becomes to powerful it usually ends up dead.

The tunnel ended up being more like a maze. Booby traps and strange artifacts that the other three would grab and pocket, personally I didn't want to touch anything. We ran into a few of the others that were above ground with us and they joined the ranks. I started hearing two words in an echo down the tunnels.

"Do you guys here that?"

"What is it?" Keldren spun around as he asked and quirked his head to listen.

"It's weird, gim-yew? Gotch something?" Percy's puzzled voice echoed off the tunnel and at the end we could each the remnants of another echo battling it.

"Hell, it's Gimmy and Gotcha! Take things you can lose and keep them close. Little things, candy, coins, stuff you won't miss."

"I'm guessing that's for Gimmy, what do we do for Gotcha."

"You pray he doesn't get you." Says the new boy that joined us last turn.

"You've been here too?"

"Yeah twice, this place... if it likes you it finds you. I've been lucky, but I know that one day I won't be."

"So are they monsters? Ghosts?"

"Think Tokka and Rahzar from the second live action ninja turtles movie, dumb but dangerous. You can thank his kind for them." He pointed at Keldren.

"One guy, one man made them not a race of people Jon. I don't blame your kind for the weapon that left a scar on my right thigh."

"He got shot with a gun last year, first time anyone has had a weapon like that in the city. It was a mess." Orion poked in as we made our way to the left of the tunnels.

Then we were pulled up short by an ugly troll like thing with a very large hand that slammed the wall making the tunnel shake and weeze with possible collapse.

"Gimmy!"

Keldren flung a hand full of bronze coins at him and he disappeared in a green smoke. That seemed to easy...and of course it was. Because Gimmy showed up two more times and one girl in the back had nothing to give him, so he took her arm off. Long short short Jason puked, I gagged, Percy screamed and Will being Will picked up the arm and drug her behind him telling he would put it back on, only for Gimmy to snatch it with his overly large hand and eat it. I was starting to sense the end of the tunnel, we were getting closer to the surface when Gotcha appeared. I was done I was so fucking done with this shit. I pushed Keldren out of the way and ran head on taking Gotcha by surprise and slicing him from navel to nose. Sinking to the ground the others gathered around and we realized that a trail of bodies was behind him, atleast ten dead and a few death moaning and beyond help.

"He's not disappearing! What did you use?"

"Stygian Iron."

"The same metal as the great reaper."

"No actually this is stronger. You die by his you never come back, it's like you are erased from existence. Like you never were. It's why the mother of monsters is always after me and my sisters. Only we can wield it, monsters, ghosts, humans, it can obliterate everything and anything. Thank you for coming to my ted talk. Let's move!"

All of us just left the bodies by the wayside and started for the end of the tunnel. Hands dug all around at the tree roots hanging down until a hike wide enough for Othgar was made. I stayed in the back Incase we were ambushed again by Gimmy. Finally Percy held his hand out and pulled me up out of the root of the tree and we stumbled down. Our heads knocked together as I tried to get off of him only to roll to the side a see the craziest tree ever. It was over fifty feet tall and the leaves on it were black with glowing red edges that illuminated the area. It was like a Halloween Christmas tree. When you looked closer what looked like blood dripped from the tree like sap. All of it culminating at the bottom into a circle that made a fiery ring that glowed as bright as the leaves.

"Ok what's the red ring of death?" Jason inquired.

"It's the fire circle. There are circles all over the city. One for each element, and two for the nexus and void. When you die you will come out within the circle that best represents you." Othgar helped me up and gathered everyone around them. We had the three that were with us in the room, and two boys and three girls.

"We need to find shelter. The Crimson guard will be out and it will be a miracle if we can avoid them. We should head to the Alchemist or the Doll makers homes. Those have been the safest so far."

"Well we came out from the fire circle so the Hunters cabin is the closest and it will have room for us all more so than the other to." Said Orion.

"Ok we should head there, we need a few hours sleep. The next three days are going to be Hell." Othgar seemed to be the leader in all this and since we had no fucking idea what was happening, we are following him.

The city looked like a black and white movie as they moon leached the color from all the streets and buildings. It was an old timey city. The paths were gravel mostly or worn dirt paths. The buildings made from stone and wood and spaced far away from eachother. No one spoke letting Keldren lead the way again, I think Percy was right about him being able to see better in the dark then the rest of us, well other than myself. I never really talked about it with anyone other than Hazel but we could see very clearly in the dark. It's more like the colors change and fall into a different relief. We came across a large cabin with what looked like a cows tongue nailed to the front door. The sounds of whispered barking and whimpering ghosted our ears as Keldren knocked three times.

"Tiddlywinks!" Called a small voice on the other side of the door. Keldren called back the same word and the door swung open to a little girl about 8 years old with bright blonde hair. I knew from the look of her that she wasn't alive, not in the normal sense. She was dead yet she was solid.

"Keldren, it's been a while. You don't visit anymore."

"Sorry Sienna, I'll try to be better next year. We have twelve with us, can you spare room?"

"Will they all do hospitality rights?"

"I'm certain."

"Actually we have eleven. The girl who lost the arm wandered off." Will whispered from the back.

"Yeah that happens, so we have eleven. How about it Sienna, a favor for an old friend?"

"One night. Half of you can stay in fathers room, the other half stay in the kennels. Let me get hospitality ready."

We filed in as the little girl got together a large goblet or wine and a loaf of bread from the galley kitchen. She ordered us to eat a piece and take a sip. Strangely she bowed to me and handed it to me first. Once it was done I felt my ears pop.

"It's the magical pressure. It's a tradition as old as magic itself. You take hospitality in the home and it's a promise to not hurt anyone inside the home. If you try bad things happen. Thank you for being gracious your highness. Would you like to stay in my room?"She said to me as she took the wine from my hand. I told her no and shook of the weird greeting. A lot of ghosts referred to me that way.

The hospitality ritutal was an old tradition that still is somewhat relevant from our world too. But I guess maybe this was once our world at one time too. I needed to get information. We were lead to the kennels as the other half was lead to another room. It was warm, the hearth in the home was blazing and seemed to deep into the wood of the place. The little girl didn't stay as she showed us where we could rest. I felt a bump on my shoulder to see Will handing me one of the back packs he had surprisingly saved.

"Bunk mates? The kennels seem like they only hold two at a time."

"Uh yeah sure, sounds good." I mumbled feeling nervous as he handed me the bag and we started setting up our sleeping area. He wasn't kidding it was small in each area, then again these looked a lot like dog beds. Everyone was settling in but I saw Keldren stay in the area outside the Kennels where the dogs were fed. The guys joined me sitting around him as we heard Othgar let out a snore than would have shook the glass in windows.. if there were windows.

"So you gonna spill what's going on here? Where we are... maybe when we are?"

"We don't know the year, especially since it changes every time. See Othgar, Orion and I are stuck here. The others are like you, they wander in. Sometimes they get out and sometimes they stay like we do. See we died here. So we are part of the loop that curses this place. Things work differently in Morsander . If you can stay alive then you can leave. You just have to last three days and three nights without running out of fate. Tonight doesn't count, this is just the entry. Your best bet is to lay low is to not be noticed, especially you your highness." He chuckles at the last bit.

"Sorry what are you, and Othgar what is he you both don't seem human." Jason asked.

"We are from a world that's long been forgotten. When creatures and magic were everywhere. It wasn't just humans but different sects of us. I am an Ultek, we were the race that blended technology and magic. Orion is a Windu, what you would call a barbarian. Othgar is a Sunder, an old race that's wise and strong, they age slower and are born as larva from the trees of wisdom. We come from a time before the Atlantis city crumbled." Percy whistled at that, obviously he understood how long ago that was.

"Ok I get that, different races, you are caught in a death loop, most of you are dead, I can get behind that. But I need to know what this place is, I remember reading about it a little but I'm not sure what we are walking into and what happened that was so bad that the town was cursed?" Keldren shifted at my words, this was obviously a painful story.

"Do you want the long version or the short version."

"Let's do the short and I'm sure you will fill us in along the way as we navigate this city."

"I have clothes for your friends, if your going to get by you will need to fit in. You can leave your old clothes here. Your bags too, I won't lose them I'm very responsible. " the little girl came in with a bunch of clothing. Passing them out she gave us a few burlap sacks to put our old stuff into. I saw some blood drip from her elbow.

"You are bleeding!" Yelled will as he took her arm in hand.

"It happens, nothing to be done about it." She pulled her arm from him.

"What happened to you Sienna, I mean here what made you stay here in this place." I asked.

"My father is the hunter. He helps the alchemist find what he needs to cure the sickness. My father left me one day and said to feed the hounds, but he left the food to high for me to reach. So when he came home all he could find was some hair and a few bones left of me. It wasn't the puppies fault. They were hungry and I couldn't feed them." She said in a sad voice that broke my heart. This little girl was eaten by dogs, a tragedy burned into the curse. Jason has turned white at the story. I turned back to Keldren.

"So long story short, lets hear it."

"There was a being, Bogdan the giant king. He was going across the land taking over towns and cities. The only one he hadn't taken was us, but he was close and King Mortvia knew he couldn't defeat them. There was one that Bogdan never touched, never went near and that was Ezekiel who lived in the mountains and kept to himself. So the king went to him to gain his secrets or his friendship to keep the giant king from taking our city. The king came home different, more powerful. Then everything went to shit. Sure Bogdan wouldn't touch the city, but then things started happening. Two plagues wiped out half the population. The red and the white. The red plague ate at your flesh and killed you in days while the white plague changed you into something else, drained your skin of color and you would no longer walk in the sunlight."

"Vampires!"

"Percy shut up and let him speak!"

"Sorry."

"Keldren please continue."

"Well then shipments stopped coming in from trading towns, people were starving and going mad. The Alchemist worked day and night on a cure and never found one. The blood guard would harass and hurt the people it was sworn to protect. Every place here has a story and a curse. A tragedy a lot like Siennas. We three learned most of the stories every time we reappeared here. We lay in a sort of limbo until the city appears again and we relive the horror. It changes every year, we try to prevent things from happening only for it to be changed in the next cycle."

"So it's like a gory groundhogs day."

"I've heard of that play! One of the other told me about it over fifteen cycles ago. We try our best to keep newcomers safe and they tell us the tales of how the world is now. It's really the only happiness we get when the cycle starts up. All you have to know now is to stick by we three and we will do our best to get you out alive. Just survive the three days and you will go back home."

"And if we don't, survive that is?"

"Then you will be stuck here with us, trying to keep newcomers alive."

Well that takes care of one suspicion. Some of these people are dead... and only a few of us alive... for now.

This whole thing was heavy. Don't get me wrong we have seen some shit, we are war veterans. This was a lot though. Time loops with ghost are scary enough, but one big enough to encapsulate an entire village was bad news. Plus what one of the others told me before was seething in my mind "if it likes you it finds you." Which means even if we get our alive this time, we might come back one day and we won't have a choice. That only meant we had to break the curse while we were here or face coming back over and over again as we grew older.

Jason and Percy bunked in the kennels next to us, it didn't surprise me. They liked to lean on eachother when things got bad, it was like they both were in the leader position so much that only another leader would understand. They could be vulnerable with eachother in a way Will and I couldn't be with them. I started to shake as I laid down trying to calm myself from the shitstorm we were about to face. Will and I didn't speak as we went to sleep, but I did feel his arm climb over my waist and pull me to him. I'm sure it's just a comfort thing. I'm sure percy and Jason were equally as cozy... right?

Like this didn't mean he likes me or anything. Why am I thinking about this when we are in a super fucked situation. I could hear Hazel in my head telling me that I'm just trying to distract myself from the horrible danger I was in by thinking of my normal problems that plagued my teenage existence. She should become a therapist. An art therapist. Gods Damn it Di Angelo get your head in the game and go the fuck to sleep! Not that it was really possible with Othgar snoring and being surround by people I didn't know. Not to mention the bedding we were on was very obviously a dog bed, the dogs who ate the little girl in the other gave us a small run down of the story of this place. Her dad left to help the local alchemist father herbs and such, told her to feed the dogs while he was gone... but he left the food to high for her to reach. I need to sleep... but his hand is touching me and he so warm and so... fuck he's so beautiful. I need to stop thinking about everything. I need some more of that wine that would help me sleep. I'm just going to have to face that I'm going to be tired the next few days, especially if Will continues to bunk with me. His breathing had shallowed into a steady pace and a light wheeze came from nose, he was asleep. Feeling brave I turned in his arms to face him. In the dark is freckles glowed slightly. I brushed a golden curl from his forehead and leaned in lightly brushing our lips together. I knew it was wrong and selfish, cowardly even. But we could die in the next couple days, a higher percentage than if we were on the outside, and I couldn't let that happen without atleast feeling this once. They were soft, warm and inviting. I pressed a little firmer. I almost jumped when his had cupped my face and he kissed me back. My heart rate shot through the roof. I didn't back away though, maybe I could pass it off to him as a freak come morning. I was to selfish to stop.

"Go to sleep, I'll protect you." He said against my lips. Then he kissed me again as if sealing it and pulled me against his broad chest. Fuck it, worrying about it was morning Nicos problem. I cuddled in close and felt the beat of his heart against my ear and just sated and happy despite our circumstances.

At least he kissed me back, at least I have that.

**This story will have multiple chapters please subscribe and sound off in the reviews **


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